


To Do the Right Thing

by albayzin



Series: The Adventures of Orca Man and Rhincodon [2]
Category: Free!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, M/M, Secret Identity, Superhero!Makoto, universe typical violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-07
Updated: 2018-10-07
Packaged: 2019-07-27 21:30:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16227716
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/albayzin/pseuds/albayzin
Summary: “Well, yeah, you saved me once before. I just came to the city and never heard of you, so I looked you up and I saw the video.”Orca Man groans and Sousuke grins, “Someone needs--”“--To do the right thing,” Orca Man finishes. “I hate that video,” he says flatly.“I love it,” Sousuke responds quickly. “I mean, you’re actually wearing an orca costume. It’s hilarious.”Sousuke stops a mugging and then gets saved by Iwatobi City's newest superhero.





	To Do the Right Thing

**Author's Note:**

> Returning to this AU after over a year! Believe me when I say that I've never stopped plotting for this AU. Unfortunately, these ideas were more individual stories than something with an overarching plot. However, I'm back and I'm here to share some of these snippets for Love Free week!
> 
> This story takes place before Rhincodon and Orca Man, and before Sousuke becomes the villain known as Rhincodon. 
> 
> Written for Love Free Week, Day 1: How do they say “I love you”? or What is something they’ve always wanted to do?

Sousuke stumbles through the alley frantically, trying to get away from the man chasing him. Behind him, he can still hear the shouts of the thugs who were chasing after him and-- shit, were there more of them now? It was only three the last time he checked, but everything is sounding louder now, with his heart pumping in his chest and his adrenaline running through his veins.

In retrospect, probably the better thing to have done would have been to call the police when he saw that girl getting mugged. It would have been the smart thing to do, but Sousuke saw the fear in her eyes as the taller guy crowded her against the wall of the alley. Before he knew it, he was rushing forward and punching the guy in the face. He told her to run, that he’ll handle it. She ran and he kept the guy busy. One guy was fine, but then his friends started popping out and crowding in the entry of the alley. All it took was one look before Sousuke knew what was going to happen, so he booked it as fast as he could. 

So here he was, running through the alley, trying to get away from these assholes. He’s panting hard as he runs and he’s already regretting letting his exercise slip so he could focus on getting into Iwatobi City University’s Engineering doctorate program. A lot good all that extra studying is doing him now. He couldn’t exactly use his knowledge on electromagnetic pulses to keep these thugs away.

“Shit--” he curses as he trips over a piece of garbage in the road. He loses his footing for a moment, but it’s just enough for his pursuers to catch up to him. Sousuke feels one grab his arm and the first thing thing he does is reach back and slam an elbow in the first squishy body he can find. There’s a sense of satisfaction he feels when he hears a cry of pain, but that quickly dissipates when a loud crack echoes through the alley. One of the other thugs punches him in the jaw and Sousuke is seeing stars as he tumbles to the ground. Well, that was stupid of him, but he still can’t find it in him to regret what he did.

He can’t find it in him to regret a lot of what he did today.

Sousuke is shoved against the wall and he feels an arm against his throat, restricting his air flow. He’s trying to breathe, but it’s hard. 

“So, you think you’re some kinda hero, don’t you?” he hears the thug holding him against the wall say. 

He doesn’t respond, only just start laughing. The arm against his throat presses tighter and Sousuke gasps, trying to get more air. 

“Not so funny now, isn’t it?”

It was never funny to begin with. Sousuke honestly doesn’t know why he started laughing, but there’s no helping it now. He just glares at the guy holding him against the way and he sees four more people behind him. Great, so there were more of them. He sees the one he punched earlier and another guy holding his gut gingerly. Sousuke managed to at least land some sort of blow on two of them. At least there’s some satisfaction here.

Sousuke doesn’t know what they’re going to do to him. He figures they’re going to beat him up and steal his stuff and his guess is proven right when they start crowding closer towards him. Great, he gets a cute new roommate and within the first month of living with him, Sousuke is going to come home beat up. He knows he has a rough face, but he doesn’t want the guy to think that Sousuke goes out and gets into fights all the time. 

Makoto looks like the kind of guy who would rather run away than get into a fight.

This will definitely get them off to the right foot. 

But if this is going the way it’s going to go, Sousuke isn’t just going to take it. He spits in the guy’s face and he grins at how it surprises him. 

He’s still grinning as he sees the guy’s other arm rear back.

Again, there’s a resounding crack and Sousuke is now seeing stars. The arm against his throat is pulled away and Sousuke falls to the ground. Well, this is it. Sousuke is going to get the shit kicked out of him. But it’s fine-- he knows it happened for a good cause. 

He idly wonders if the girl managed to run away when he hears another thud.

And then another.

That doesn’t sound… right? Sousuke is gasping, trying to get himself back up. He manages to get himself into a sitting position against the wall and sees an ass in black and white latex. He stares for a moment and blinks.

Then he sees the body that ass is connected to fighting against the last three remaining thugs.

OK, that makes more sense. 

Sousuke’s laughing again as he watches Orca Man fight against the thugs, bringing them all down one by one. Sousuke manages to get himself standing by the time Orca Man lands a punch on the last remaining thug, knocking him out cold. Orca Man looks at them all lying unconscious on the ground, nodding once before turning back to Sousuke.

Instantly, the hardened expression on his face softens and Orca Man is rushing to his side.

“Are you alright? Sorry I couldn’t get here earlier,” he says, reaching into one of his belt pouches and pulling out a bit of gauze. 

Sousuke feels his heart beat in his chest again, for a different reason. Which is cut short when Orca Man presses the gauze against the corner of his lip. Then he feels a sting and he’s thinking that the last punch must have split his lip.

“Oh,” Sousuke coughs, “no, you’re ho-- fine. Fine. You got here when I needed you. Yep.”

He’s rambling, he knows, but Sousuke can’t stop himself. 

Orca Man lets out a small chuckle before pulling away the gauze and looking at his lip a bit closer. There’s only a bit of pink on the gauze, so his lip must not be that too bad off when Orca Man nods and puts the gauze away. 

“Still, you should get yourself looked at. There’s a clinic around the corner. I’ll call ahead and let you know you’re on your way.”

“You won’t come with me?” Sousuke asks before he can stop himself.

Orca Man looks a little shocked, but he recovers quickly. He lets out a small chuckle and shakes his head. 

Sousuke’s heart beats again.

“No, I need to take care of these guys. Tie them up for the police, you know?”

Sousuke nods dumbly, but doesn’t make a motion to move just yet. He watches as Orca Man starts tying up the thugs.

“How did you know that I’d need you?”

Orca Man doesn’t even pause, but he does give Sousuke a look over his shoulder and a smile. 

“That girl you saved? I was on patrol when she ran by me. She stopped and pointed out where you saved her.”

Sousuke nods dumbly. Orca Man is almost done before he speaks up again.

“You didn’t have to, you know. You could have just walked away. From what she said, lots of people walked away and ignored what was happened. But you didn’t.”

Sousuke licks his lips, they’re suddenly feeling a bit dry.

“You saved me, once before. The convenience store robbery. I’m not sure if you remem--”

“I remember. I’ll remember it forever”

Sousuke stops. Orca Man is looking down at the thugs intently for a moment before turning back to Sousuke. His face, or what could be seen of it, looks so soft now… So different from what’s seen on the news and in the videos. He doesn’t look like the unofficial protector of Iwatobi City. He just looks… human.

“Between you and me,” Orca Man says, getting a little closer to Sousuke, speaking quietly, “I’ll remember that robbery forever because it was the first time like I was really helping. That I wasn’t just getting in the way.”

They’re close, too close, but Sousuke doesn’t want to walk away just yet. He looks into Orca Man’s eyes through his mask. 

“Well, yeah, you saved me once before. I just came to the city and never heard of you, so I looked you up and I saw the video.”

Orca Man groans and Sousuke grins, “Someone needs--”

“--To do the right thing,” Orca Man finishes. “I hate that video,” he says flatly.

“I love it,” Sousuke responds quickly. “I mean, you’re actually wearing an orca costume. It’s hilarious.”

“You mean embarrassing.”

“That too, but also… kind of inspiring?” Sousuke pauses, gathering his thoughts before he continues, “You weren’t anybody then, just a guy in a suit. But you stopped that guy from stealing that lady’s purse. You helped her. And now look at you. You’re a hero and you’re saving people all the time. It may not be what you wanted, but you can’t tell me you that you don’t like helping people. Not when you just keep getting better and better at it.”

Orca Man bites his lip and shakes his head, “No, you’re right. I love this.”

He pauses and finishes, “But I still hate that video.”

Sousuke laughs, “Still, you saved me twice, so let me properly thank you here.”

He leans in and presses his lips against Orca Man’s. If Orca Man pulls away, he’ll blame it on the two punches to the head that he got. He’s not thinking straight. But this is something that he’s wanted to do. He’s wanted to do this ever since he found himself huddling for safety in the back of the convenience store as a masked criminal held a knife to the grocery clerk’s face, demanding for money. Orca Man managed to talk his way into the store and disarm the criminal. He held him down while shouting for everyone to run outside. Sousuke, the clerk, and the other customers took that opportunity to run out. They stayed until the police came and Orca Man handed him off to them. Just like now, his hardened face softened and his face lit up as the police told him that he did a good job. 

It was his first time in the city, having come to interview for a space at the university. He had gotten accepted and was planning to look for apartments while pigging out on convenience store food in his hotel room. He still wasn’t sure about the city, having heard about it’s crime problem, but that day, things seemed… safer. 

Sousuke wanted to thank him. 

The kiss had lasted for a few seconds without any sort of response. Disappointed, Sousuke was about to pull away when he felt a gloved hand rest against his cheek and Orca Man start kissing back. 

They stand there, kissing in the alley in front of a group of unconscious thugs and Sousuke couldn’t ask for anything better. 

Eventually, Orca Man does pull away and he coughs.

“I don’t do it for the thanks, but… I’ll accept it just this once.”

Sousuke grins unabashedly. 

“So you said the clinic is around the corner, yeah?”

“Yeah, I’ll call and let them know you’re coming.” Orca Man is smiling softly at him and it takes all his control to not fist pump there. Instead, Sousuke nods and walks out the alley. He hears Orca Man’s voice talking into what he assumes is his phone as he makes his way to the clinic. 

He doesn’t care that he just got a split lip and a beat up face. 

He got to kiss Orca Man.

***

It’s almost an hour later before Sousuke manages to get himself home. The clinic didn’t see anything wrong with him more than just the bruises along his face. He’s walking on cloud nine here.

“Makoto, I’m home,” he calls out as he walks through his front door.

“Welcome ba-- what happened to you?!” he hears in response from the living room. Makoto is scrambling from the couch to Sousuke, with concern in his face. 

Ah, so he was right.

“Nothing much, just got mugged,” A lie he practiced on the walk home,”But I’m fine.”

Makoto still looks concerned, and before he could even open his mouth, Sousuke speaks again.

“Orca Man saved me.”

The look on his face changes, lighting up in a brilliant smile.

“He did? That’s good. He’s been helping a lot of people, hasn’t he?”

Sousuke nods.

Makoto then frowns as he looks closer at Sousuke’s face, “I… don’t think we have any ice packs. You might have to do with frozen peas to help with those bruises. Is that alright?”

“Yeah, that’ll be fine. We can get some tomorrow, yeah?”

Makoto nods, still looking over his bruises. Sousuke watches as Makoto’s eyes trail over his face. The bruising isn’t bad now, but it’s still early. He’s still watching as he sees Makoto’s eyes pause on his lips. His eyes stop there before his face gets red.

“Go sit on the couch while I get them!”

Makoto rushes to the kitchen, leaving Sousuke standing there a little dumbfounded. He chuckles and shakes his head before walking towards the living room.

It’s a shame, Makoto is kind of cute and maybe if things had been different, Sousuke might have thought about asking him out one day.

But there’s only one person he wants to keep kissing right now. He sighs and leans his head back as he thinks about the kiss he shared with Orca Man. 

It’s stupid, but-- Orca Man did kiss him back.

Maybe something can happen.

**Author's Note:**

> if you want to know more about this au, feel free to ask me on twitter over at [sardborken](https://twitter.com/sardborken)!


End file.
